Fragments
by katy-did
Summary: Mick always figured the universe didn't really like him all that much. More likely, it just didn't care about what happened to him. He was just a speck of dust, not something to ever really think about. Not something that anyone would ever care about.


It was all Haircut's fault really.

Hunter was off doing something, trying to get all the remaining Time Captains to band together and start a new group. Keep the timeline from unraveling.

Time Captains only.

He figured the left over Time Captains would be more willing to listen to him if he didn't have a bunch of interlopers with him.

His words.

So the rest of them had stayed behind in the present. Sara and Ray went back to Star, see their families, catch up, help out the Arrow.

Jax and Stein were probably doing the same, only in Central and with the Flash.

Mick was currently hiding out in a safe house he was sure Snart hadn't known about. Wasn't the entire reason he picked the place. It was one of the nicer abandoned warehouses on the water.

Wasn't like he was avoiding Lisa.

He had told her about her brother and after a couple drinks and an entire night of screaming at him, she had left. Said she didn't blame him, but he could see the anger in her eyes. Same look her brother used to get when they were in the middle of a heist and something went sideways. Keeping it together til the job was done. Took a couple metas with her, starting up her own Rogues.

She'd be fine on her own. Got her brother's smarts.

Mick had spent the better part of the last month just laying low. Rebuilding an old car he found at the junkyard. Wasn't sure what he was going to do with it, maybe give to the Birds if they got married. Just park in their front yard.

Not like he would be invited to the wedding. Don't think it's good luck to invite a man who killed your son. Even if the son was supposed to die that day anyway, whether Chronos had intervened or not. Or that it was the Time Master's manipulation that done it.

Circumstances don't really mean much when someone you love is dead. When you're putting them in the ground.

He didn't think on the Birds too much. They went their own way. Got their own lives now. They wanted to see what a normal life was like. Don't know how that was gonna work out for 'em. Both were fighters. Once you got the fire in your blood, was hard to get it out.

Haircut kept texting him though. Even Jax did it every couple days. Making sure Mick was staying out of trouble.

Mick had only set one fire since he'd been back, just a small electrical thing he set up in an old abandoned fast food joint. The city was going to tear it down anyway. Didn't let it get out of control, even stuck around until the firefighters showed up to put the ashes out.

Wasn't even really sure why he'd done it. Felt like something he should want to do. Now that he could do whatever he wanted again. Without the Time Master's telling him no.

Without anyone telling him no.

Boredom.

That's all it was. The only reason he agreed when Haircut called him up and asked for some help with some metahuman that was causing problems in Central. Apparently the Flash had called in a bunch of back up, Jax and Stein were going to be there too. Sara wasn't, Starling has it own problems. Things she had to keep an eye on.

He figured what the hell. He'd watch Haircut's back, make sure the idiot didn't get himself shot, then go back to fixing up his car.

So he vaguely paid attention as some black haired guy started going off on how they were going to track the meta human. It was blocking all their signals and yada yada. Really pissing the guy off apparently. Glasses didn't seem like the type to not know how to figure something out.

"You think you can ask…some of your no doubt less reputable sources…Mr. Rory?" When Stein called Mick Mr. Rory, it was cause he was old. And old people liked that sort of proper name stuff. When Glasses did it, it was said with a tone that implied Mick's name was an insult in of itself.

Mick just smiled.

"Sure thing."

He didn't plan on going and talking to any of the old contacts he had. Chronos was a damn bounty hunter for longer than he could remember. He knew how to follow tracks, to see people's weaknesses and use that to predict where they would hole up.

He was heading out to his car when the Flash zoomed in front of him.

Kid was still wearing his mask. Mick knew he was probably the only person in that room who hadn't seen the kid's face under the get up. Wasn't like he didn't know the kid's name. Time Master's had been pretty pissed at the Flash most of the time. Pissed at how many times they had to course correct the timeline when the kid jumped through it.

Still, Mick wasn't going to say anything if Allen wasn't going to.

"Look, I know Harry can be a bit…much. And things were a little awkward in there but Ray has said that…"

"Ain't going to give you any trouble, just bored and thought I'd do my civic duty. Might be the first time I've ever done it."

"That's not…I…I'm sorry about Snart."

Oh. Right.

Mick knew that the Flash and Len had had this weird thing going on. Used to drive Mick nuts. Len never got obsessed with people like that. Only ever got that focused on jobs. Len wasn't paying attention to the job, wasn't planning out every little second. Was more focused on beating the Flash, getting one up on the guy.

Always figured Flash would be happy to have them gone.

Mick just grunted and opened his car door. The Flash didn't move or anything, just stood there. Palmer did this annoying thing where he would just stand in silence, looking like he might stand there forever until you asked him a question. Asked him what was wrong.

Seems the Flash went to the same dog training. Mick rolled his eyes.

"What."

"Thank you, for helping us and…"

"Not burning the city down?"

"…kinda?"

Mick smirked.

"It's still early."

The Flash had given a smile at that. Mick was losing his touch if he couldn't get people think he would burn something down for no reason.

He'd have to start a few more fires. Keep the heroes on their toes. Don't want them getting complacent.

Mick didn't get the chance to burn anything that night. Or the next. Whoever this guy they were chasing was, he was good. Was getting in and out of banks like he was walking through the walls.

This guy was one of the metas who hadn't gotten lucky. Didn't have powers that he could hide. Mick had met the metas that Len and Lisa had broken out of STAR, all of them could pass as normal.

Not this guy. His hands looked like talons. Great big sharp things. Been using them to rip people apart. Eyes were all messed up too. Ramon seemed to think the guy could see in the dark. His DNA getting all mixed up with some kind of animal.

Mick finally managed to track the guy down after a few days. Holed up in an old house his parents sold when he was a kid. Condemned by the city, barely had a roof on it. Got the drop on the guy, knocked him out, tied him up, threw an anti-meta device around his neck, and drove him back to STAR Labs.

He was locking the guy in the pipeline when Ramon came around the corner.

"Hey, Heatwave! We think we have a lead on where the meta might be he….is...right there." The kid's voice had trailed off when he saw Mick standing there. Claws was starting to wake up, throwing himself at the glass. Mick had been in enough cells to know that was useless.

"You found him."

"Yep."

"How did….you're bleeding! Dude, you gotta get upstairs and get that looked at, I…that is super gnarly."

Mick looked down. Guess the guy had taken a pretty good chunk out of his leg. Had been a pretty quick fight, but Mick hadn't managed to avoid the talons completely. He supposed he had gotten used to wearing a suit of armor when he went after dangerous targets. Got used to just being able to have his ship fix any injury.

He had wrapped an old shirt around the wound. Figured he'd sew it up himself later. Wouldn't be pretty, but it was better than paying some mob doc to do it.

What was one more scar?

"It's not that bad."

"Ok, I get it, you're like a total badass but seriously. We don't know if there are like poisons and stuff in his claws. You need to get it looked at now."

Mick rolled his eyes but walked up the little med bay they had set up. Dr. Snow wasn't there so he sat down on a gurney and started to cut open his pant leg. Pretty distinct claw marks on his left calf. Was going to scar up pretty good. Didn't smell anything except blood so it wasn't…

"You went alone!"

Haircut was pulling his helmet off. Trying to look all big and mad. Hell he might actually be mad. Was an odd look on the guy's face.

"Got the guy."

"That 'guy' has killed over a dozen people!" Mick didn't respond to that. Figured he had killed more people than Claws had. Between Mick Rory and Chronos, he wasn't really sure what his kill count was.

Wasn't something he had ever kept track of. Some guys would flaunt it around. Saying they killed a dozen people, like they were going to get a trophy for it or something.

He looked back down at his leg. Didn't hurt too bad to walk on. He was just going to pay a mob doc to look at it. Wasn't worth listening to Haircut whine.

He started to stand up and a quick push knocked him back onto the gurney. Felt like a strong gust of wind had just pushed on his chest.

The Flash was looking at him oddly. Wasn't anger like Haircut, something more like curiosity.

"We told you how dangerous he was. You were supposed to let us know if you found something."

"Ain't like I got your phone number."

"You have mine!" Haircut took an indignant step forward. "I programmed it in myself. You should have…"

Mick was already starting to tune Haircut out at this point. Palmer must have realized it too cause he got that little angry ferret face he gets when he thinks someone is ignoring something important he's trying to explain.

Dr. Snow came in and stopped whatever tirade Palmer was about to go off on. Shooing them out, sewing up his wound, cleaning it out. She didn't say anything. Which was good. Didn't figure the two of them had too much to talk about. She probably still hated him for tying her to a bomb. Felt like forever ago to him. Hadn't even really remembered she was the one he done it to, until Ramon had made some comment about it.

He had trouble sometimes. Remembering when things happened. Who he was when he did them. Mick Rory and Chronos were different parts of his life. But he couldn't really say how long he had been Chronos. Being away from the Vanishing Point, was starting to make those memories slip away. Being back in his own timeline, the time drift didn't have a hold on him anymore. So things from being Chronos were starting to get a little blurry.

Wasn't too long ago for her though. She didn't know nothing about his time as Chronos, how far away certain parts of his life still seemed. How the memories might fade in and out, but the training the Time Masters had subjected him to had become second nature.

Muscle memory didn't seem to fade the same way. So he just kept his mouth shut and nodded when she gave him instructions on how to keep the wound clean.

He took the pills she gave him and he went back to his safe house.

Figured that would be the end of it. One time deal. Only in the most extreme circumstance would they ever be forced to ask for his help.

Next time, it's Ramon who calls him.

Mick is going to have a long talk with Haircut about who he gives Mick's number to. Or maybe it will be a real short talk, no words needed.

Ain't really Mick they need. Just his gun. Gotta melt through some impenetrable door. Firestorm's out of town or something and they don't got time to build another heat gun.

So Mick agrees. He supposes he can fit this into his schedule. Only so many episodes of All in the Family a guy can watch in a day.

Seems like the damn city is falling apart every week after that. They keep calling him, he keeps coming to help. Even when Haircut ain't around. Even when Palmer heads back to Star. Starts to feel like a pattern. Like something that's normal.

He knows it shouldn't be. He should be out robbing some place. Giving in to all the base instincts he always gave into. Mick Rory always had impulse control issues.

Chronos never gave into a single impulse.

Chronos was the one who could keep himself in check. Didn't need someone else to do it for him.

He had fenced a few pieces of art he had in storage since he had been back. That was technically jobs he had pulled before he started being a…

Whatever the hell he was now.

Replacement.

He knew that if Lenny was still around, they wouldn't be callin Mick for help. They just needed someone who knew people in the underworld, could reach out to some of the less violent metas. Talk 'em into leaving the city or helping out with the big stuff.

Big stuff like a gorilla taking over Central.

Got a whole army with him. Can control people with their minds. So the heroes gotta go set up these psychic mind blockers around the city. Different places so it will cover everyone. Keep innocent people from attacking each other.

Ain't just the Flash and his crew in on this one though. Seems like every meta Mick's ever known is helping out. He wondered if Lisa was around somewhere.

What's left of the cops is helping too, mostly acting as back up. Keeping the civilians from getting too close or interfering. The cops had looked pretty pissed when Mick showed up with Jax and Stein to plant their mind blocker thing at some old radio station.

Apparently no one had told them about Mick being a part of the crew.

Firestorm flew up to the top of the tower and Mick headed inside. He had to turn on the power and put in some thing Cisco had handed him.

Mick had been shot a few times before. Hazard of the job.

Never been shot in the back before.

It's his own damn fault. Turning his back on a cop.

He'd been spending too much time with the heroes. Started thinking he could trust someone just cause the Flash said so.

Mick didn't even know the cop's name. Didn't know why the guy shot him. Could have been payback for something. Or maybe the guy just figured it was a way to take out a dangerous criminal.

Suppose it doesn't really matter why you're bleeding out on the floor.

Just that you are.

He can feel the blood in his mouth. Knows he didn't bite his tongue or anything. Knows that's not a good sign.

Getting hard to breathe. Like someone's pushing down on his chest, or pouring liquid down his throat.

Glasses' plan had gone off without a hitch though. Suppose that was good. Cop had waited to shoot Mick until after the job was done. Least the guy wasn't a complete idiot.

There was a voice in his ear. Asking him questions. Sounded real insistent like.

Like a mosquito that just don't know when to stop buzzing around your head. If it needed blood there was plenty on the floor, no reason to keep bothering him.

Mick tried to say something to get the buzzing to stop, but started coughing. Spitting up blood now. His lungs were filling up. He didn't want to drown. He was supposed to go out in fire, not the flood.

He never really had a problem with water. Wasn't like he hated it or anything. He just…didn't want to go out like that. Fire was clean. Burned everything until the ground was new. But water…water left you bloated and broken.

Was a big flood on the farm when he was a kid. Washed everything away. Saw a dead cow get stuck on what was left of their fence. His dad made him help cut the thing loose. Smelled so bad he threw up a couple times. His dad had been pissed about that, called him a pussy for it.

There was broken things everywhere. Parts of other people's lives stuck in the ground. Took weeks to clean it all up. To throw it all away. He remembered finding a plastic Chewbacca toy in the mud almost a year later. No way of knowing who it used to belong to. No way of finding out really. He had kept it in the box in his room with his hidden lighter.

Never liked to think on…

"Mick…come on Mick…look at me."

Buzzing was closer now. Sounded real familiar…Jax. So where was…

"It's alright Mr. Rory. Help will be here any second."

He was sure if he tried to talk he would just get blood all over Stein's shirt. So he kept his mouth closed as best he could. Clarissa had bought Stein that sweater a year ago on their anniversary.

Mick didn't know why he knew that. Felt like a pretty stupid thing to think about right now. He felt a cough coming on, so he turned his head towards Jax. Got blood on the kid's pants. Just a pair of jeans. Kid could get new ones.

"It's alright man. It's alright. Where the hell is he?"

"I…"

Mick wasn't too sure about what happened next. Feels like he's flying or maybe falling. Guess if he's going to hell it would be the second one.

Waking up in a hospital is never pleasant. He's laying on his stomach. Must've got hurt on a job or…he can't really remember how he got hurt. Just that he's in a hospital. Won't be too long before they realize he's awake. Not long before the cops come in and arrest him for…whatever he got caught doing.

The meds they gave him are making it hard to think. But he's escaped from worse before. Got out of that ambulance after he got burned. Just gotta ignore the pain. Push it down. He can feel it later when he's somewhere safe.

A noise from the corner of his room draws his attention. There's some young kid sitting here. Brown hair, young. He's asleep, neck at an awkward angle.

Mick don't know why, but he's certain the kid is a cop of some kind. They really need to learn to train their newbies better when watching a prisoner. Falling asleep like that, Mick could slit the kids throat and be gone in an instant. Mick manages to slip out of the bed and pull off his monitors without setting them off. A trick Lenny taught him years ago.

He leaves the kid sleeping.

Makes it to the elevator and gets off on the second floor. There's a sky bridge that leads to the parking garage there. Easier than walking out the front. He's a little insulted that there wasn't a cop standing guard outside his door.

He's going to have to tell Lenny the cops are slipping….

Lenny's dead.

The thought hits him and he stumbles. Has to grab the metal railing for support. He knew that. He knew Len was dead. He pushes that pain down too. Ain't got time for it now. Len would kick Mick's ass from the grave if he got caught during an escape because of sentimentality.

He knows he hotwires a car. Knows he manages to drive it to the safe house on LaMonte. Knows he's got a bed in there somewhere, but can't really recall where so he just collapses on the couch.

Someone slaps him on the face.

Takes a minute for his eyes to adjust. Takes even longer for his mind to figure out who he's looking at.

"Lisa."

"Well, look at that, you are alive."

Lisa's not supposed to be here. Supposed to be off somewhere, setting the world aflame in her own way.

"I told them you had a tendency to wake up and just run for the nearest safe house. There really wasn't any reason for them to call me."

"Them?"

Mick's mind is still a little fuzzy.

"Your new friends at STAR Labs."

"Ain't got friends."

"Well that's hurtful."

Mick snorted.

"Different. You're family..."

Words are out of his mouth before he remembers. Lisa and he ain't family any more. Len's dead. Mick is the reason Len is dead. Lisa doesn't want anything to do with him.

Mick closes his eyes and buries his face in the pillow. Lisa's like her brother. She won't say anything about his slip up. Knows it's just the meds that made him forget.

He feels a hand on his forehead and cautiously opens an eye. Expecting her to slap him again.

"You're burning up."

Statement of fact. No emotion or anything behind the words.

But the Snarts' never said anything that didn't have a meaning. Oh they can talk and talk, but if they're talking to you. There's a reason.

Mick ain't got anything that Lisa might want. And he doesn't think she's going to kill him. So her saying he's sick, seeking him out and finding him when he disappeared is...

A way to say what she wants to say without having to show any weakness. Knowing that he will get the message.

She's still mad. But she doesn't want him dead.

Which was more than he deserved.

He gives her a small smile. And is sure he imagines the small one she gives him in return.

When he opens his eyes again that brown haired kid is sitting on a chair across from him. And somehow Mick is in a bed. Back at STAR Labs.

He moves to sit up and this time the kid is by him in an instant.

"Whoa easy man." Puts a hand on Mick's shoulder, forcing him to lay back down.

Mick glares at the kid. But the kid don't back down.

"You shouldn't be sitting up. Caitlin said you were lucky you didn't get an infection or reopen the wound when you…escaped from the hospital."

Mick closes his eyes for a moment. Letting himself remember how he got shot in the first place. He opens his eyes and looks over.

"We done pretending I don't know who you are then?"

The Flash actually looks a little embarrassed by that.

"Yea, sorry. I was trying to be better around keeping my identity a secret. Ray and even Martin told me that I could trust you with it but…"

Mick just grunted.

"Probably smarter you didn't tell me."

Kid looked confused for second, then his face got all determined. Mick was going to call that the "hero face." They all get it. Like they're going to say something real important. Something inspirational.

"No. You're one of us. You…almost died saving this city. I'm Barry Allen." Kid stuck his hand out. Mick eyed it for a second.

He was going to ignore that "you're one of us" nonsense, but he shook the kid's hand anyway.

Mick was useful. That's all it was. As long as he didn't step too far out of line. As long as he didn't start setting off fires, then he was allowed in.

As long as he remembered all the rules the Time Masters had beat into his brain.

Mick knew it wouldn't be too long before he did something the heroes couldn't abide.

Kid had a firm handshake though. Kept looking Mick in the eyes like he actually believed it. Mick dropped the kid's hand.

"Any reason that cop shot me?"

Barry Allen looked real upset about that.

"He…he was one of the cops that got burned when you and Snart stole that painting."

Ah.

That explained it.

Things that seemed like they happened decades ago, are still fresh for everybody else. People are still holding on to hurts, ones that Mick sometimes forgets he even did.

Sometimes hard to tell the difference between what was an actual memory of his and what was a memory of Chronos'. He would remember fire and heists and running from the cops, but then there would be a volcano, a world with an orange sky, and a man with no eyes running from him.

And he knows part of that is the debriefing process. After successful missions, the Time Masters would require full reports. And the easiest way to get all the information sometimes is to just pluck it right out of his brain.

Sometimes they weren't very gentle when they took it out. Didn't want him remembering the missions they sent him on couple of times.

Just left fragments of memories behind. It's why he couldn't really know how long he was Chronos. How many people he hunted down. How many he killed.

He wondered what would happen when Chronos' old hurts came calling after him.

Allen put his hand on Mick's shoulder again.

"He had no right to shoot you. He was a cop, and he should…"

"Job title don't mean nothing when someone who hurt you is standing right in front of ya. Don't worry, I won't go after him. I ain't that stupid."

The grip on his shoulder tightens and Mick is forced to look into Allen's eyes.

Kid's got a hell of a fire in his eyes.

"You're…ok yea, you were a criminal. And you did bad stuff. You hurt people, you robbed them. And if that cop had tried to arrest you, that would be one thing. But he didn't want justice. Revenge is never the answer."

Mick didn't know about that. Revenge kept him sane for ages when he was with the Time Masters.

Anger was all he had then.

All he could hold on to. The only thing that he knew the Time Masters hadn't put in him.

It was the only thing that had separated what they did to him, from who he really was.

But Allen didn't want to hear about Mick's time with those bastards. Kid probably just wanted Mick to nod his head and say he understood. So that's what he did.

"Got it."

Allen didn't look convinced. But he took a step back and sat down in the chair again.

Mick decided he would just go back to sleep. Easier than having to deal with whatever speech the kid might be working himself up to.

Next couple weeks weren't so bad.

Except for Ray kept hovering. Got that look on his face like Mick getting shot was all his fault. Which was stupid, seeing as Ray hadn't even been in Central at the time.

Allen had the same look sometimes. Mick figured it was a hero thing. Thinking you could control everything in the world. Thinking it was your fault if everything went to shit.

Mick hadn't been able to leave STAR Labs too much. Aside from the bed rest at first, Allen said the cops were still technically looking for him. Mick had scoffed at that. He knew how to evade cops. Been doing it since he was sixteen.

Still. He stuck around. Tried to be a good boy.

Least til his wounds were healed up a little better. Until he was sure he could handle himself in a fight if it came to it.

Glasses, Ramon, Snow, and Allen were always around. Didn't seem like Glasses was able to leave STAR Labs too much either. He had a daughter that popped in and out too.

He tried to avoid them at first. Spent most of his time down in the garage, working on some of the vehicles down there. Geniuses upstairs were too busy figuring out how to travel between universes and keep metahumans contained to be thinking on the simple stuff. Don't think they'd ever changed the oil in a couple of the vans. But Snow was constantly checking on his wounds. Saying he needed to keep an eye on it. She wasn't so bad. Kept it professional and all.

Ramon though.

Ramon was the worst. Haircut had let Mick's time as a bounty hunter slip. Let them all know that Mick had a time ship of his own at one point. That Mick knew about the mechanics of time travel better than anyone else in the present.

Ramon kept asking him all kinds of questions.

"What about if a temporal vortex were to…"

"Is that the swirling thing with the black center?"

"I…wait. I thought you had a time ship and…"

"Had an AI on board. It flew the thing. I just got out and shot at people."

Ramon had looked annoyed at that. Allen had looked amused. Got the feeling the kid could see through Mick's act.

Didn't know why that bothered Mick. He knew people tended to take him at face value. He looked like a meathead thug, so everyone assumed he was a meathead thug.

Ramon had left the room in a huff after a few more minutes of Mick stonewalling him.

"Cisco's just curious. He thinks if we have a better understanding of the mechanics of time travel and the Time Master's influences we…"

"Don't like to talk about it."

Allen had looked a little worried at that. Like he hadn't realized he had offended Mick in some way. Don't think the Flash is supposed to care if he hurts a criminal's feelings.

"I can tell him to lay off if…"

Mick just shrugged. He didn't like to talk about being Chronos. About the jobs he pulled. About the time he lost.

Not like it caused him to cry or end up rocking in a corner. Just something that happened to him.

It was easy enough to push it down. Kept it compartmentalized.

Like the Time Masters had trained him to.

Talking about the mechanics of time travel was separate from his experiences. That was just stuff he knew. Just stuff that got shoved in when he wasn't paying attention. No real memories attached to that.

"I just like messing with the geek."

Allen smiled.

"Yea I got the feeling. I…"

Kid hesitated. Mick knew that look. Been getting it a lot lately since he'd been hanging out around the heroes.

They wanted to say something about his past. Something about Snart.

"Spit it out kid." Came out more of a growl than Mick had intended. He just got sick of people acting like he couldn't handle talking about Len. Man had died. Everybody did eventually.

Always knew they wouldn't live to be old men. Was a little surprised both of them had lived this long really.

"I…had wondered why Snart would work with you when we first met. You and he seemed so…completely different. But…I think I get it now. You're….not at all what you want people to think you are."

Mick snorted.

That was maybe half true.

Maybe he wasn't as stupid as he tried to get people to believe. But he and Snart had been opposites.

Mick was all fight. Len was all planning.

If Len had just let Mick hold down the stick in the Oculus, Mick had no doubts that Len would have figured out a plan to get Mick back by now. Would have found some loophole. Some way to change the whole damn universe.

They'd be doing this together.

Instead of Mick just…

"Oh! I…didn't mean that as an insult. I meant just that…"

"I got what you meant kid."

Allen's shoulders relaxed marginally at that. Smiled at Mick like it was something important he had said.

"Good."

It was Mick's own fault really.

Hanging out with the heroes too long. Being around them all the time. They'd seek him out, talking to him all the time. Not just about time travel or Chronos either. Normal stuff. Stuff Mick had forgotten was normal to talk about.

Mick had spent an entire day explaining Time Wraiths to Allen. And how damn lucky he was not to have been pulled apart by one when he first jumped through time.

Mick had never been the most personable of guys. Didn't have Len's skill in talking to people. Len could get anybody to listen to him within a minute. Lisa was the same way, except she tended to use her looks more than she needed to.

Hell Len had done that too.

Both of the Snarts knew how attractive they were. Used it to their advantage every chance they got.

Still. Allen, Ramon, Snow…they didn't seem put off by his presence any more. Sometimes they'd just come and rant about something, Mick wasn't sure he'd even say a single word to them. But they acted like he was giving them advice.

Just let people talk and talk. Eventually they'd get around to what they really wanted to say or do.

Almost felt like he was on a crew again.

Wasn't the same as working with Len. They had been partners for almost thirty years. Knew each other better than most families. Fought like families fight most of the time too. Mick figured getting a fist fight wasn't an appropriate reaction to an argument at STAR Labs.

Now Mick got why Len had gotten so obsessed with the Flash. Wasn't just the speed and the power. Was something else about the kid.

Was a time, Mick would have called him naïve. That Allen didn't know how the world really worked.

But Mick wasn't sure he really knew how the world worked any more.

No harm in letting their infectious optimism seep into his skin every now and then.

He needed to do it while he could. Before they decided they didn't need him around any more. Wasn't like Ramon couldn't just build another heat gun if they really needed it. And they could always call in Sara if they needed more muscle.

Before he had to go back to being what he was before.

* * *

Mick had gone back to the safe house after he healed enough. Back to working on the car. Though he had hit a bit of a snag. Had to call Jax and ask him to come help him out with it. Kid was good with engines. Hell, he'd been able to work on the Waverider going off just the manual.

Maybe he'd give the car to Jax when it was all fixed. Jax had been saying he liked the old muscle car, saying he'd never be able to afford a car like that. Spent a good deal of time ranting about his mom's bills.

Guess being a superhero don't pay too well. Mick didn't say anything. Just kept working. Just slipped a couple hundred bucks in the kid's pocket when he went to leave.

Jax had actually glared at Mick when he walked into the cortex for the next emergency meeting.

"Dude. What was with…." The kid looked around the room. Like talking about some stolen money would be what finally caused the Flash to take Mick back to jail. Hell, heroes were weird with their rules. Maybe it would be. "…the money you slipped me."

"You helped with the car."

"For a couple of hours. It wasn't…"

"The car's a classic. I wasn't going to be able to fix the engine by myself. Would have had to take it to a mechanic for work. What I gave you is what I would have paid some other professional."

Kid looked a little stunned for a second.

"Oh. I thought…"

Mick just looked at the kid. Not really sure what he thought the money was for.

"What?"

Jax smiled suddenly.

"Nothing man. Thanks. Let me know if you need more help with it."

Mick had grunted in response then went and leaned against the wall.

The heroes spent most of the time talking about ways to fight against the metahuman. Ways to get close to 'em without being able to touch the freak.

"What about Chronos' suit?"

Mick finally starts to pay attention at that. Stein and Jax are looking at him funny, and Haircut looks a little upset. Sara's watching him too, can't really tell what she's thinking though.

Haven't seen her too much since they'd been back in the present. She'd been sticking pretty close to Starling. Pretty close to the family she had left.

Glasses just kept talking.

"You said that the suit that Mr. Rory would wear is future tech. Would it be able to withstand the attacks?"

Stein takes a step forward. Almost looks like he's stepping in front of Mick. Mick smiles a little at the mental image of Stein and Glasses getting into a fist fight.

"Mr. Rory doesn't have access to the suit any longer, he left it on the Waverider."

No he didn't.

"No I didn't. Got it in a box at a safe house."

Stein whips around at that.

"What? Why on earth would you keep that thing?"

Mick shrugged.

"Figured might need it someday if anybody from another time came looking for revenge."

Cisco started running calculations on the strength of the attacks.

"I mean it's the pain from the shockwaves that are causing the real issue. So it would depend on if the armor could absorb the attacks." Cisco hands Mick a tablet with the calculations on it. The kid had figured out Mick's game awhile back and now just assumed Mick knew what all the numbers meant.

The meta causes debilitating pain even from the lightest touch. Don't matter if a person is wearing a bullet proof vest or one of them bomb squad suits, you feel it. Like fire ant are biting in your veins. Crawling under your skin, ripping you apart from the inside. Two people have died from the pain, their bodies just giving out from the stress. And those were just glancing blows.

They wanted Mick to take several direct hits. Figuring the suit would protect him.

Technically it would.

"Suit can take it."

"Excellent, we can..."

Flash takes a step forward. Looking like he's still not sure.

Looking almost concerned.

"The suit is one thing. What about you?"

Pain was something Mick was very familiar with. Gotten his fair share of it in both of his lives. Guess he was still healing from that gunshot. Still pulled on his muscles if he stood up too quick. Didn't really slow him down any more though.

Dr. Snow jumped in before he could say anything.

"He is still recovering from a gun shot wound to the back. We don't know if the meta's attack would cause damage to his already compromised system. Maybe someone else can wear the suit..."

"Wouldn't work."

Cisco is moving about the room. Stops in front of Mick at that though. Takes his tablet back.

"Um dude, it's armor. Pretty sure anybody can slip it on if their shoulders are broad enough, which actually, looking at you…yea that could be a problem. Ray maybe..."

"Suit can be put on by anybody, but the protections embedded in the armor only work for the designated hunter. Someone else puts it on and the armor breaks down and turns brittle and rusts. Disintegrates within a few hours. Time Masters made it that way so if a bounty hunter is killed outside their own time, there ain't any evidence. Keeps pirates from stealing the armor too."

Now Allen is looking real concerned. Don't know why. They need someone to take the hits.

That's Mick's job.

"What do you mean, protections?"

"Suit probably won't be able to withstand the meta's attacks any more than any other piece of metal. But the suit has built in systems to allow the hunter to continue their mission should they be injured."

They need to know about the suit if they are going to use it. So he repeats the knowledge that was forced into his brain. Over and over again, until he didn't question it. Until it was just…the way things were.

"The Mark IV standard suit is designed to auto-inject painkillers into any site of catastrophic injury. This will give the hunter adequate time to either return to the ship to be healed, or complete the mission. It is a hunter's top priority to complete their mission. Returning to the ship without fulfilling the mission will result in the termination of the hunter, or reinduction procedures."

"If the hunter is unable to fulfill the mission parameters and cannot return to the Vanishing Point, then the hunter is to initiate the Oxidation Protocol. The suit will inject the hunter with a poison. The poison will mimic whatever recreational drug is prevalent in the time period, so as to give the appearance of an overdose. The hunter is to remove the suit and any future based weaponry, then transmit a signal instructing their assigned ship to return to the Vanishing Point. The hunter will then cause a small, Level 1 explosion that will destroy the future technology, leaving no traces behind. The hunter will then find an adequate place for their body to be..."

Sara's hands are on his gloves. Clenching his hands real tight.

Mick looks up from where he had been fiddling with them. Didn't even hear her walk over.

Everybody's looking at him. He knows those looks. The ones shrinks used to give him when he would go on too long talking about fire.

He didn't think he had mentioned fire.

He gives Sara a questioning look. She turns to Glasses.

"Find another way."

Mick's a little confused when they all turn away quick like and start working on another way to stop the meta. Suit would work, do what they needed it to do. Get someone close enough to take out the guy before he hurts anybody else.

Mick doesn't really know what would happen once the painkillers from the suit wore off.

"The suit would..."

"Where is the Chronos armor?"

"Why?"

"Where is it Mick?"

Lisa used to take that tone with him. Like she knew he was being deliberately obtuse. Pretending to be dumber than he was.

"It could be useful."

"No. It couldn't."

Ends up taking her to get the armor. Not sure why she needed to come with him to get it. Still, he won't turn down the company. Knows she won't say anything or ask any questions like the others would.

He pulls the crate out from under his bed and opens the latch.

The helmet is staring back at him. He remembers how hard it was to breathe with that damn thing on. But he was never allowed to take it off when he was on a mission.

So he never did.

Sara picks up the helmet. Turning it over in her hands.

First time she had ever really seen it up close. Not just when he was shooting at them. Was always a son of a bitch to get the whole suit on and off. So many damn latches and buckles. Everything always felt so heavy. Kept his shoulder muscles in knots most of the time.

His rifle's in there too. They should at least keep that.

He says as much. Sara just nods and Mick leaves the gun under his bed.

They take the crate back to STAR Labs.

Mick figures they are at least going to take the thing apart. Use pieces of it for something else.

Jax and Stein turn it into sand.

Mick stares at them for a moment after they go back to being separate.

"Could have used it."

Stein puts a hand on Mick's shoulder. Mick doesn't shrug it off. Doesn't even threaten the guy for touching him.

Getting soft in his old age.

"Chronos is a part of the past. Best we leave all of him there."

Mick shrugs the hand off after that.

He's sure they'll be regretting doing this the next time someone from the future comes barging in.

Allen runs in a little later. Says they think they've figured out a way to get to the meta. Plan's half assed at best. Don't know how these people have managed to stay alive as long as they have. Still, Mick goes along with it. Helps them take another one down.

He doesn't think too much on the Chronos armor. Does think it was stupid to destroy it.

Though every protocol states to never leave future based technology in the past. Unimaginable repercussions they had said.

Mick wonders if the repercussions would have been someone figuring out how to stop the Time Masters earlier.

Probably not.

Hell, Allen's got a future version of Gideon in some special room. And he don't ever use her for nothing. She could be running STAR Labs at ten times the efficiency, increasing all their security, keeping an eye out for any potential threats she knew about. Don't matter if the timelines different now from the one she's from. Some things always happen.

Saving a person's life or killing someone in the past, don't change an earthquake from happening. Or a tornado from wiping out a town.

Can't stop a force of nature.

Can't stop the things that people don't have any control over.

* * *

Alarms always piss Mick off.

Blaring loud and long. The ones in STAR are just as annoying as the ones in any bank he had ever robbed. Except instead of running for the door, Mick is heading farther into the building

Like a goddamn idiot.

He wasn't even supposed to be here. They didn't call him or nothing. He was minding his own business when something that looked like a tornado started forming over STAR Labs.

He had even called Mardon up to see if that asshole was stirring up trouble again.

Guy said he wasn't even in Central.

So Mick had driven over there. Alarms going off all over the place. Snow and Glasses are in the cortex. Talking about some kind of temporal anomaly that was created by this power source they had found. Power source they can't really explain where it came from. Mick thinks Snow might have even said the word magic at one point. Mick takes a look, but the readings ain't like anything he's ever seen.

And he's seen it all.

"Mr. Palmer and Mr. Ramon are down in the lab attempting to control the power source that is causing this. Mr. Palmer believes he can control it so that we..."

Mick heads down there.

Figures he can lend a hand at least. Help them keep the world from blowing up by tightening a bolt or something.

Haircut, Ramon, Allen, and Glasses' daughter are down there.

Mick opens his mouth to ask what's going on. Allen and Ramon even look a little relieved to see him. Probably just need another pair of hands.

Ramon points at some machine with sparks flying out of it.

"Mick, can you..."

Mick glances over at Palmer. Guy hasn't looked up from the control panel he's at. Focused completely on the job in front of him.

Makes Mick's breath catch in this throat for a second.

He knows that look.

Seen it dozens of times.

Mick manages to growl out an order.

"Everybody out."

Palmer doesn't look up but Allen and the chick are looking at him funny.

"Mick, we have to contain the power source. Ray says he can..."

"He can't. It ain't gonna work. Get everybody out of the building."

Mick figures he's going to have a fight on his hands. Going to have to explain himself.

Allen just grabs Ramon and the chick and disappears.

Palmer finally looks up.

"Mick? Where the hell did they go? Doesn't matter. We have to..."

"It's time to go Haircut."

"What? No. Listen, I can control the power fluctuations, if I can just..."

"You can't. It's time to go."  
All geniuses are same. Eventually they get fed up with having to explain things to other people. Things that are so obvious to them.

"Look. Mick. I don't have time to explain quantum mechanics to you ok? So I need to just back off and let me do this before..."

Mick takes a step forward, the control panel between them.

"Don't make me drag you out of here."

"Of course, because that is your first response to everything. Violence. Typical. I know this is difficult for you to understand, but I know what I am doing." Haircut was angry now. Going to start saying things that were going to get him punched when this was all over. "I have several PhDs and don't have time to dumb this down for someone who never graduated high school. So how about you leave me to my work and I'll call you when I need someone to hit something."

Mick thought about just leaving him there. Be a lot less of a hassle for Mick.

But that damn familiar look was still on Palmer's face. So Mick resisted the urge to pull out his heat gun and slammed a hand down on the console instead.

Palmer jerks his head up in surprise at the sound.

"I know that look Palmer..."

"Because you know me so well."

"Because Lenny would get the same look. Anytime we would be on a job and something would go wrong, he'd say 'stick to the plan Mick.' Cause he was the brains, he was the smart one. Except his plans didn't always work out. Sometimes something would go wrong and he'd just keep plowing through, ignoring all the warnings around him. First time it happened he took a bullet through the shoulder and I got pinched. Next time I saw it, I just grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the building. He'd get so caught up in his head, so sure of his own plan, that he'd ignore everything around him. Everything screaming that it was over. That the plan didn't work."

Palmer's eyes were back on his tablet. Still trying to fix something that was completely broken.

"Ray." Palmer looks up at that. Might be the first time Mick has ever called him by his first name. Mick tries to remember the tone of voice that worked on Len. That cut through his bullheadedness. Made him see reason.

Made him realize that if Mick was being the voice of reason, then everything was screwed. Mick tries to keep his voice level, but insistent.

Calm. Mick was never calm. It always snapped Len out of it.

"You can't fix it. And it is time to go."

Ray looks back down at the tablet, at the readings flashing across the screen. At the machinery making terrible screeching noises all around him.

"I can't fix it." Palmer's horrified. Suddenly realizing what's he's probably known for awhile now. But ain't been able to admit to himself.

His plan ain't working. And the sirens are just getting louder.

Mick grabs Palmer's arm and starts pulling him towards the door.

"Wait. The explosion will destroy STAR Labs we..."

The Flash suddenly reappears in the room.

"How far away from the city do I need to get the device?"

"Barry the blast radius, you won't be able to..."

"How far?"

Glasses must say something over the headset cause Allen's face gets real determined. Then…

He's gone again.

And the alarms stop.

Haircut sort of slips down on the ground. Puts his hands on his head.

"I thought I could fix it. I told them I could fix it. They believed me and..."

There's a small shaking. Like a little earthquake. Or a large explosion far, far away. Mick heads up to the cortex, Palmer's trailing behind him.

The others have come back inside from where Flash had run them all out. Didn't get them very far apparently, before they heard Mick talking to Ray over the headsets. All came rushing back in like a bunch of idiots to try and contain the blast if it went off in the building.

"Barry. Barry can you hear me?" Snow's trying over the radio. The blast would be messing with their headsets. That's why Allen isn't responding.

Things are getting real tense. Haircut looks like he might start crying any second.

Mick is ignoring the feeling in his chest.

Keeps his face neutral. Like the Time Masters trained him too.

Ramon is trying to comfort Palmer. Tell him it ain't his fault. They all thought it could be contained.

Mick won't ever admit the pleased feeling he gets when the Flash finally reappears a few seconds later.

Covered in soot, suit all scrapped up and a mess.

But alive.

Ramon and Snow practically bum rush the guy trying to hug him.

All excited sounds, and relieved sighs.

Palmer's apologizing again. Gets in there and hugs the Flash too.

Kid's smiling like they just did something amazing.

Like he didn't almost just die in an explosion.

Little harder to keep his face neutral after that thought hits him. Decides it's time for him to go.

Maybe go get drunk at Saints and Sinners like he was planning on doing earlier.

Maybe get a little drunker than he had originally intended.

He's out of the cortex and in the hallway when Dr. Snow comes running after him.

"Mick."

Funny how everyone has decided to start using his first name around here.

"Yea?"

"We were going to order some food. Sort of a 'we didn't die' celebration."

"You must have those a lot."

"...Tragically more than we should be comfortable with. You should stay."

Mick sort of looks at her funny at that.

"Why?"

"Because we would all be dead if you hadn't shown up. We would have kept thinking that Ray could contain the power source and we wouldn't have noticed until it was too late….Plus Ray could use…."

"What?"

"A friend."

"You're his friends."

She makes an irritated sound.

"Yes. Of course we are but...you know what he's been through on the Waverider and...you just know him better than we do. You'll notice if he's..."

"Wallowing in a pity party?"

"Yes, exactly! Probably shouldn't have said that with such excitement. But. You'll stay?"

Suppose he can always get drunk later. Sinners don't close until three am.

"I could eat."

She smiles at that and heads back inside.

Heroes got a weird way of expressing gratitude. Food and conversation about the best action movies of all time.

Die Hard.

Obviously.

"Really, would have thought you would be more of a Blazing Inferno kind of guy."

Mick rolls his eyes a little at that. Allen and he are the only ones still in the cortex. Well Palmer's here, but he's asleep on the floor. Had passed out after getting drunk. Kept apologizing, not just to Allen but to Mick too.

Kept saying how sorry he was for insulting Mick.

Wasn't like it was the worst thing anyone had ever said to him. Maybe he would shave Palmer's head while he was asleep. More just so the guy didn't keep apologizing to him.

Could say that made them square.

Ramon and Snow had gone out to pick up more food. Don't know where Glasses and his daughter were.

"Ain't a real action movie. More a drama with fire."

"Ok, be real with me. If I asked you, could you name every single movie that had fire in the title?"

Mick smirks a little.

Maybe when he was a kid he could. Used to watch anything that was even remotely related to fire. Fire in the Sky had been a real disappointment.

But he had moved on to real fires later. Was better when he could feel the heat, when he could almost touch something so unpredictable. And he didn't watch too many movies any more.

"Not anymore. Been awhile for me."

"I used to watch every paranormal movie I could get my hands on. Didn't matter if it was the worst B movie ever made, I saw it."

That made sense. Allen seemed like the type.

Was quiet after that. Was a time, Mick would have hated the quiet. Would have had a lighter out, flipping it on and off until the roaring in his mind died down.

Chronos never minded the quiet. It was always quiet on the ship.

He still had a lighter in his pocket. But he wondered if that was more out of a desire to get back to who he was, than any real need.

This quiet ain't so bad though.  
Figures it's all going to go to hell before too long anyway. Best savor it while it lasts.

Ends up being right about that less than a week later.

Mick always assumed it would be some meta human threat or some asshole from his past. Something that causes Mick to finally snap out of this strange pattern he's found himself in. Causes him to go back to what he was.

Except it ain't no enemy that does it.

It's Lenny.

He doesn't even have to go into the room. He can see it in the way the guy moves his hands. The way he stretches out certain words when he talks. Even just watching Len over the monitor he knows for a fact it's Len.

Mick isn't really sure how they brought him back. Mick had gone to Star to help Haircut. Make sure the idiot wasn't going to spiral after almost blowing up Central and killing the Flash. Lenny always got in bad moods and didn't eat right after a plan when sideways. So Mick spent a few days making sure Palmer was fed.

Was only gone a few days. But he comes back to this real weird message from Barry. Real cryptic, just saying to come down to STAR Labs as soon as he can.

Mick's not sure he heard a word they said after he saw Len on the video screen. They got him in some kind of isolation room. Just in case.

In case of what, Mick doesn't know. He was having trouble hearing any of their explanations.

Cisco was saying something about the time stream and how he had been working on this for awhile but didn't want to say anything. Didn't want to get their hopes up if he couldn't pull Len back whole and sane.

Len's memories were all messed up. Being a part of the time stream, Len had all these memories that didn't belong to him rattling around in his head. Knew things he shouldn't know about people. Kept slipping and saying things that didn't make sense, or talking in a language he didn't speak.

Mick knew that would fade. Could only imagine how bad the time drift must be when you're actually a part of the time stream for awhile. When you're not outside time, or in anyone place. When you're just…everywhere.

Now that Len was back in his correct time period, it would come back to him. Slowly at first, but the things that were real would seem sharper than the things that weren't.

Lisa had gone in to see him first of course. She was coming out of the room when Mick had first gotten to STAR Labs. Big smile on her face. Mick could barely remember the last time she had smiled like that. Should have known what was going on from that alone.

Len remembered her. But thought she was supposed to be eleven. Kept asking her if she still liked to ice skate. If she liked the skates he had gotten her for her birthday.

Allen was in there now. The second the kid walked in the room, the two of them started right back at it.

Guy could barely remember himself but he was already making puns about it. Allen handed Len his cold gun. Help him remember who he was.

Allen made some comment to Len then rushed into the cortex to stand by Mick.

The kid was smiling.

Mick barely managed to keep from smiling back. The kid made a small gesture towards the screen

"Well…?"

"It's him."

Somehow the kid smiled wider. Lisa had already confirmed it was Len. Didn't know why they thought Mick had to weigh in on it too. It was just the two of them in there right now. Sara and Snow were taking food to the prisoners they still had locked up in the pipeline. Place was more like holding cells now, until the metas could be transferred to Iron Heights. Still had to feed them and all that though.

Cisco and Glasses were working with the data they had down in the labs. The info they had gathered when grabbing Lenny.

Barry put a hand on Mick's arm. Looking at him with those eyes that always had so damn much hope in them. Hope for everybody he met.

Even someone like Mick.

"I'll give you guys some time."

Flash was gone before Mick could say anything.

Mick smiled, kept his eyes on the monitors.

Mick wasn't really sure what he was going to say to Len. Just hoped the guy remembered him during one of their better times.

Mick walked into the room.

Len instantly pulled his cold gun and pointed it at Mick's head.

Shit.

Of course.

It would be some time when the two of them were at odds that Len would remember first. Lisa had explained to Len what had happened, but Len had always been stubborn.

Wasn't going to believe something was real when his own memories were telling him otherwise.

Mick opened his mouth, figured he'd figure out when it was that Len thought he was at. If it was Vegas or New York it wouldn't be too bad. They got over those with a couple beers and some easy jobs.

If it was Philadelphia, then Mick might just have to come back later.

Len beat him too it though.

"Chronos."

Mick felt like he had been punched in the chest. He couldn't breathe for a moment. Almost thirty damn years the two of them had known each other. Almost their whole damn lives and Len doesn't remember anything except…

The cold gun made a small sound and Mick managed to move out of the way in time. Diving to the left as the stream of ice hit the wall behind his shoulder.

"I don't know how you got in here, but I'm not going to let you anywhere near Lisa."

Mick didn't pull his own gun. Figured if Len killed him for this then he probably deserved it. Mick was lucky that Len was so weak. Lucky Len was still barely able to stay awake for more than a few minutes at a time.

Didn't take long before Len couldn't hold the cold gun up anymore. It fell to his side. But the anger, the hatred, in his eyes remained.

Len had spent his whole life protecting Lisa. That was always going to be his first priority. Even scattered across the centuries, even with thousands of memories that didn't belong to him clouding up his head, Len would focus on protecting Lisa first.

Len must have forced himself to remember the threats to Lisa. Forced himself to remember how to protect her.

Chronos was a threat.

And Mick was Chronos.

So Mick was his enemy.

Len was struggling to stay awake. Struggling to lift the gun. To kill the threat to Lisa.

Mick just watched as Len finally passed out. He grabbed the gun before it slipped out of Len's hands. Helped guide Len back onto the bed.

Mick placed the cold gun carefully on the tray next to the bed. Close enough so Len could reach it. Could defend himself.

He wanted to hit something.

He wanted to set something on fire.

That was a Mick Rory response. And that's who he was.

Mick Rory.

Not Chronos.

Mick Rory.

He should have expected something like this.

Lenny was never going to be able to forgive Mick for what he threatened to do to Lisa. Sure they had been getting back to their routine on the Waverider. But that had been the circumstances of the thing. Len was smart, he would have known that the only way to keep an eye on Mick was to keep him close. Make sure Mick was really who he said he was.

Len would have made sure the Time Masters hadn't left any nasty surprises behind in Mick's head.

Hell Mick didn't even know if they had. There could be hidden trigger words, ways for some rogue Time Masters to get Mick to kill the people around him. Mick might just wake up with everybody around him burned to a crisp. No memory of doing it. Wouldn't make it any less his fault though.

Mick's chest felt tight at the thought. He didn't know all of what they did to him. Couldn't remember any of the induction procedures they put him through. Or the countless reinductions.

There could be anything still lurking in his mind.

Lenny would have ditched Mick the moment they all got back if he couldn't be sure. He couldn't allow a risk like that near Lisa.

Mick shouldn't have let a risk like that anywhere near Lisa.

He had always promised Len that if anything happened to him, he would look out for Lisa. Protect her from any threat.

Chronos was a threat.

Mick had been stupid and selfish. Trying to hold on to something familiar.

But Len was back now.

Len was the one with the plans. The one that could charm people into being on his side. Could talk people into seeing things his way. He'd make sure these idiots didn't get themselves killed over their pride.

Lisa would have her brother back. No reason for Mick to stick around and keep an eye on her.

He let out a deep breath.

He made sure Len was situated on the bed. Made sure the cold gun was within reach. Couldn't leave his partner without a way to defend himself.

Then Mick headed for the exit.

Mick didn't see anybody else when he left. Just went back to the safe house on West End. The one nobody knew about. Started a small fire in a barrel in the garage.

Wasn't enough.

He couldn't focus. Couldn't get Len's look out of his head. Couldn't get past the fact that the person who knew him the best, had instantly seen Chronos.

Not Mick Rory.

Chronos.

He heard his phone ringing a few times. Saw bunch of names and faces flashing around the screen. He couldn't answer it. Didn't know what he would say.

He'd never been real good at explaining his reasoning. Knew the things that made sense to him, never really seemed to be good enough for most people. Sides, this was for the best. Best he stay away. Let Len remember some more about Lisa and Barry and Sara. Get the good memories back.

Len would need to be calm, feel safe, if he was going to accept that he belonged here.

And he couldn't do that if Chronos was around.

Chronos would always be a threat.

Mick drove three states over to start a fire. Flash could be there in a few minutes, but that was only if he thought Mick had something to do with it. Or if they even thought to come looking for him. Mick didn't use his gun. Just some gas and a match.

Maybe he sat a little too close to this one. He could feel it start to get uncomfortable. Most people would be taking steps back, trying to get cool air in their lungs. Mick just leaned into the feeling.

His phone rang again. It was Haircut this time. Mick thought about ignoring it. Wasn't really sure why he didn't.

"Yea?"

"Oh thank…He answered! Mick, where the hell are you? You just disappeared and then you weren't answering your phone and we were…"

"Went out."

"Out? Where? Are…" Haircut's voice trailed off a moment. The house he was burning was starting to crack and fall down. Was loud enough that Palmer could hear it.

Mick figured he was in for a lecture. Safety and all that nonsense. How they thought he was over the whole setting fires thing.

Don't get over being mentally ill.

Even the Time Masters couldn't rewire his brain. All that technology and they couldn't even fix him.

Couldn't have done at least one thing for him.

"Are you ok?"

"Fine."

"Mick…did something happen. Because when Barry went up to check on you, Len was unconscious and there was ice on the walls."

"I didn't hurt him."

"Jesus Mick, nobody thinks that. We were worried he might have hurt you. That he didn't recognize you or something and just…"

"He recognized me."

"Oh. Then why…"

"Called me Chronos."

There was a long pause on the other end.

"He what."

"Guess Chronos makes a more lasting impression than Mick Rory."

"Mick he's confused he…"

"Thought I was going to hurt Lisa. So he attacked. I ain't mad at him. He did the right thing, protecting her and all. Just…needed clear my head."

Ray knows by now that "clear my head" is code for set a shit ton of stuff on fire.

"Mick…are you a safe distance from the fire?"

No. If the wind were to pick up suddenly, Mick would be in trouble.

Mick figures he's quiet for too long. Haircut figures it out.

"Ok, so how about you just go about 50 yards back?"

Mick rolls his eyes, but he moves to stand up. He grunts as he feels his knees pop. He's getting to old to be sitting on the ground like that. He'll have to bring a lawn chair next time.

He goes more than 50 yards. Somehow ends up back in his car. Sitting in the front seat, watching it all burn from there.

Haircut's still on the line, though he ain't said anything in awhile.

Finally the fire starts to taper off and Mick feels like he can think clearly.

Clearer than he has in a few months. Maybe that was the problem. The reason he hadn't felt like himself. He had been controlling the fire. He had been trained by the Time Masters to ignore his hurts, to keep moving with the mission. He had ignored the buzzing in his brain, the feeling of needing a release since he had gotten back. The fire in front of him, wild and unpredictable…soothed him.

The way only fire could.

"Ray."

Haircut had been whispering to somebody. Probably trying to pinpoint his location using the gps in the phone.

But he quickly snaps back as soon as Mick speaks.

"Yea Mick."

Mick watches the flames of the house die out. The smoke is thick and black as it rises from the ground.

"Keep an eye on Lenny for me."

"Mick, just come back and…"

"All of you just…"

Mick's never been too good with words. Never really been able to get out what he wants to say. So he isn't really sure how to finish that sentence. Decides he will figure it out later.

"Just…need to be away for awhile."

Ray's quiet for a bit. Not sure what they got to be thinking. Probably that they knew this was coming. That they were all just waiting for the day the fire would come calling for him again. Guess they would be glad he left before the fire got one of them too.

"Ok Mick. I'll watch out for Snart."

"Promise me Boy Scout."

There's a strange pause. For a second Mick thinks Haircut might say no.

"I promise."

Mick hangs up the phone. Then he breaks it in half and throws it out the window.

Mick didn't really know where he was going. Just started driving. Slept in a couple cheap motels. Woke up, then kept driving.

He thought about starting another fire. But the desire had abated for now. He couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not.

He robbed a few convenience stores when he needed money. Nothing serious, didn't even pull his gun most of the time. Just grabbed food or beer and walked out without paying for it.

He was somewhere in Nevada when there was a knock at his motel room door. Mick pulled his gun and walked slowly towards it. Maybe someone had recognized him and called the cops. Mick glanced through the peep hole.

He sighed and opened the door. But he didn't put his gun down.

"Hunter."

"Ah. Mr. Rory. Excellent. I was wondering if you had a moment."

Mick glances back towards his empty room then turns and glares at Rip. Rip looks a little chagrined.

"Right. Well, if your schedule is open. I was wondering if you might be able to help me with a slight issue."

* * *

Jurgen's Ridge was sort of like the Bermuda Triangle. Didn't matter if you were a Time Master, a bounty hunter, or a pirate. Everybody knew to avoid it.

Which of course meant that Rip Hunter wanted to fly right into it.

"Not into it of course, that would be suicide. I just want to get close enough to pull some readings. I believe that it may be the…"

Mick was standing on the bridge of the Waverider. Looking over the schematics and charts. Mick had only flown by the Ridge a few times, but every time something would happen with his ship. It would pull too far to the right or his sensors would stop working or his AI would start speaking in a different language.

The Ridge wasn't something you messed with. Wasn't something you tried to go towards on your own.

Rip needed Chronos.

He needed the training and the skills Chronos had been given by the Time Masters.

At least Rip was up front about it. He had never wanted Mick on the team. But Chronos was different. Chronos he could use.

Chronos was the one that people really needed when it came down to it.

Chronos was the one with control. The one who didn't need to set fires to be able to think straight.

Mick agreed to help Rip. Even though it was idiotic.

They were taking off when Mick figured he should probably tell somebody he was going off with Hunter. Man said they would be back only a few hours after they left, but knowing Hunter that could mean years.

He had Gideon send a message to herself at STAR Labs. Sent them the details and everything.

Just in case.

The Ridge wasn't just a time anomaly, it was also a spacial one. A place where all the different universes got uncomfortably close to one another. Started rubbing up on each other, mixing together. They said that the easiest way to travel through universes was through there. If you were desperate enough. If you didn't care what universe you ended up in.

Legend was, if you ended up in Jurgen's Ridge you would be flung through every point in time of every universe, in a single moment. A moment that lasted an eternity. Then a fluctuation would spit you out somewhere. There was no way to control the fluctuations or predict when they would happen. So if you got caught, you were stuck in whatever time or place you landed.

The time ships are designed to travel through time in this universe. Was no way of telling how the vibrations of a different universe would mess with the mechanics of a ship.

Your tech was useless. Your maps, your training. Even if by some miracle you managed to find the right Earth, it could be a million years in the past and your ship was busted to hell. Ain't like the dinosaurs would be much help if you needed new electrical components for the time drive.

Nobody in their right mind would risk something like that.

Especially for something as stupid as a couple of readings to determine if the Time Masters had hidden another Oculus somewhere.

"The readings coming from Jurgen's Ridge are incredibly similar to the ones that Gideon recorded just before and during the Oculus' explosion. If we can determine how the Time Masters were able to contain and control such energy we will be able to prevent something like that from ever happening again. From ever letting that technology fall into the wrong hands."

Or Rip could use it to bring his family back from the dead. Control the timeline using a new Oculus. Don't take a genius to figure out what spurred on this newfound interest in the Oculus.

Mick looks at Rip.

"You know Len's back."

Rip hesitates for a minute. His hands hovering over the screen.

"I am aware."

Hunter's ignoring the silence. Most people can only take Mick glaring at them for so long before they start talking. But Rip is being deliberate, keeping his back to Mick, only watching the readings. Like Gideon ain't recording and analyzing everything faster than he ever could.

Mick rolls his eyes. He don't feel like standing here all day.

"Yanking someone out of the time stream, ain't the same thing as changing history."

"I am well aware of that Mr. Rory."

"Just making sure."

Rip's shoulders slouch suddenly.

"I just…with the Time Master's gone. With no one actively preventing me from saving them…I thought…"

Guy was a glutton for punishment. Carrying all that weight around, like he should have saved them. Mick wonders for a moment why it never occurred to him to try and save his parents when they were back there. Wasn't like his life had been a bed of roses after their deaths. Could have made things better.

Could have made things worse.

It's the unknowns that get you in the end. Make you choose one way or the other. Interfere or don't.

It's always about the what ifs.

"You tried again?"

Rip sighed. Real low. Like the sound was coming from somewhere other than his chest.

"I tried to go back there…I kept putting in the coordinates. I kept thinking…. This time it had to work. But then…then I would just stop. I would walk away. Go back to my study and look over old maps until the desire passed. Or I passed out. Not always of my own recognizance."

Mick knew what the problem was. Figured Rip did too.

"You changed too much. Once you brought us all on board, started trying to change more than just their fates…"

"I made their deaths a fixed point in time. To go back and change it now, would be to undo everything that we accomplished. If I save my family…I return the Time Master's to power and remove free will from every generation throughout eternity. I…I couldn't be that selfish. No one could."

Pretty shitty deal when it came right down to it. Mick snorted.

"I could. But then I never really cared about saving time and all that crap."

Rip smiled slightly.

"Yes Mr. Rory, you have made your feelings on the matter quite clear."

"The Oculus…"

"I suppose I thought that if I got my own Oculus, I could manipulate the Time Masters into not killing my family, but still allow us to be on our mission..."

"That's idiotic."

"I know."

"Really. I mean, your plans have never been great but that's..."

"Thank you Mr. Rory, your input is helpful as always."

Hunter said it in that snide tone of his but there was truth there. Maybe Hunter hadn't picked up Mick because he needed Chronos' skill. Maybe he had picked him up because he needed Mick's bluntness. Needed someone to tell him what he already knew.

Mick didn't relax this stance but he did take a step forward. Hunter didn't move. Apparently not worried that Mick could just knock him out and stop this whole thing if he wanted to.

Jurgen's Ridge came into view.

"We still doing this?"

Rip was quiet for a few moments.

"We are here. We might as well just do a scan from this distance. See what type of energy the Ridge produces. It will be good for future Time Masters to know to avoid this place."

Made sense. No one ever really studied the Ridge. No one knew why it acted the way it did.

"Still planning on putting another group together."

"Of course. Someone has to be responsible for protecting the future. And we have already made great strides."

Guy feels guilty for not being able to save his family, so he decides he will just try to protect every single person who ever lived.

Heroes and their damn martyr complexes. Makes 'em pretty morose bastards most of the time. Mick knows how to fix that though.

"Want to get drunk?"

"I don't think that would be a good idea."

"Ain't like you're actually doing the readings. Gideon will let us know when it's done. Ain't that right?"

"That is correct Mr. Rory. I estimate that from this distance, we will be able to safely monitor Jurgen's Ridge for approximately 37 minutes and 45 seconds."

Mick turns back to Rip.

"See?"

"You just want to raid my stash of alcohol."

Mick ain't going to deny that. Hunter shouldn't keep such good booze on board if he don't want someone to drink it.

"True."

Rip smiles slightly at that.

"I suppose there is time for..."

An alarm starts blaring.

"Captain. An energy projectile has been launched at the Waverider."

"Evasive maneuvers Gideon." Rip ran for his chair.

Mick looked down at the monitor, holding on to the table when the ship shook from the impact. Starts rattling off what information he can figure out.

"Got two pirate ships coming at us from both sides. Trying to herd us towards the Ridge. What they hell are they doing out here? No one's stupid enough to hunt here."

"It could have something to do with my new collective of Time Masters. Several pirates have banded together in an attempt to take over the Vanishing Point. Use it as their own base by which they could exist for centuries, stealing whatever they pleased. Our attempts to fight them off have been so far successful. But they must have figured out a way to track our time ships."

That's a solid plan on the pirates' part. Mick's a little pissed he didn't think of it himself.

Mick runs a quick scan of the Waverider's systems.

"Your emergency beacon is on."

Gideon starts talking. Almost sounds offended.

"I can assure you Mr. Rory that I have not initiated an emergency signal nor is one currently…"

"Not the signal itself. Just the device that sends it out. It's how I tracked time ships of this class. The beacon isn't on, but its components emit a low level radiation that can be detected if you know what you are looking for. Thing don't have to be on to be giving off a signal."

Another explosion rocks the ship.

"They know we won't risk going towards Jurgen's Ridge. They have us trapped."

Mick could see it. The way this was going to go down.

He recognized the pirate ship signatures. Both old Time Master ships that had been stolen and their Captains killed.

Badly.

Heads on pikes type stuff.

The pirates on board weren't going to leave any survivors. And getting the guy who was leading the charge to reform the Time Masters, would be a bonus. They'd kill Rip real slow. Send a video of it to his recruits. Get them to give up the Vanishing Point.

Rip was trying to find a way out. His hands flying over the controls, plotting new courses every few minutes. The pirates just kept blocking. They were faster. They were coordinated, in a way Mick couldn't remember pirates ever being before. Must be a free for all out there if pirates were banding together like this.

The Vanishing Point would be a hell of a treasure.

Rip couldn't find a way through the blockade. Man was getting more and more frustrated by the minute. And the Waverider kept taking more and more damage.

Only one way he was getting through.

Mick sprinted off of the bridge and ran towards the jump ship.

Time Masters work alone. No reason for the pirates to think that there was more than one person on the ship.

Once he was on the jump ship, he started shutting down primary systems to the Waverider.

"Gideon initiate Alpha Six protocol. Authorization 1-6-A-5-E."

"Yes Mr. Rory."

"Mr. Rory, what on earth are you doing?"

"Making it look like the Captain is abandoning his ship. I'm shutting down all major life support and initiating a self destruct from the jump ship. Once I'm clear they will come after me, thinking the Waverider has been abandoned. These pirates don't leave survivors. Once they give chase, I'll head closer to the Ridge. They'll be between the two of us. You override the self destruct and start firing. That will push them into the Ridge."

"And you as well! Mr. Rory I will not…"

"I've been flying time ships since longer than you have been alive. I'll be able to stay out of the pull of the Ridge if I keep at an angle parallel to the temporal matrix. Now shut up and get ready for a fight."

Mick detached the jump ship and pulled away.

He had never been the planner. He just saw a certain path and he took it. Damn the consequences.

Jurgen's Ridge was too strong. Too much of a force of nature. The engines of the jump ship would never be able to maintain the levels needed to resist being pulled in.

But Rip would have just put up more of a fuss. Might not have gone along with the plan. Heroes were like that. Didn't see that sometimes…things just had to be done.

The pirates followed his little ship the second it detaches. One of them even launched a type of electrical net. Latching on to Mick's ship. Fusing with the side. No way for Mick to break free of that.

Hunter, thankfully, sticks to the plan. Firing round after round at the pirates. Pirates don't have time to launch a counter offensive. The Ridge is messing with their ships, keeping them from moving the way they normally would. One of the ships exploded. Fire and metal disappearing into the Ridge. The other ship was damaged but intact. Trying to resist the pull of the Ridge. Not even trying to fire back any more. Desperate to get away. It doesn't work. The pirate ship falls into the ridge and disappears.

The jump ship was still attached by the net. Nothing he could do to stop his own descent.

Mick always figured the universe didn't really like him all that much. More likely, it just didn't care about what happened to him. He was just a speck of dust, not something to ever really think about.

Watching the Waverider disappear had caused his stomach to knot up. He hadn't given it a second thought to run into the jump ship. Even when he sat down and realized exactly what he was doing.

It was the only plan that made sense. Rip was a Time Master. More than that, as much as Mick didn't like the guy sometimes, he was a friend. Rip lost his family, but he could move forwards. Guy like that had steel in his spine. He could still do a lot of good stuff for the world. Could find a new family. Could find something that resembled peace.

"Mr. Rory! Listen to me, if you…."

The radio crackled out. Mick knew what Rip had been trying to say. If Mick pulled up and ten degrees to his left, he might be able to break himself out of the pull of the Ridge. But not the pull of the pirate ship. Hunter hadn't seen the net that had Mick caught. Didn't realize it was too late.

Mick just let the controls fall out of his hands.

He didn't want to end up in some world where there was no Len and Lisa Snart. No Haircut or Blondie. No STAR Lab idiots.

But it was too late.

The Ridge had him now. He didn't get a choice in his fate any more.

One minute, or maybe it was a thousand minutes, there was no way to really know, Mick was looking at the green glow of the time stream, the next there was a planet in front of him. The jump ship lurched violently to the side as they were pulled into the atmosphere of a planet. The jump ship's electronics had been fried by the Ridge, so he couldn't get any readings. Wasn't any guarantee that his planet was even Earth. There was blue sky racing by the window. Way too fast.

No way Mick survives the crash.

Just the physics of it.

Mick closes his eyes. More out of trying not to throw up than any desire to not see his death coming.

He hopes the explosion will be beautiful at least. Hopes the fire will be all encompassing.

The ship hits something and his chair is ripped off its hinges. The whole bridge crunches around him.

Sounds, like metal falling and wires popping, cause him to open his eyes.

There's blood dripping in his eyes. Making everything look strangely red. And there's a small fire in one of the control panels on the…ceiling. Should be the floor. Damn ship is laying on its top.

But he's alive.

Which doesn't make any sense. He should be dead. Couldn't have survived that.

There's a sound like metal tearing.

Mick unbuckles from his seat and tries to crawl towards his heat gun. The heavy metal chair has his leg pinned. He can't reach it.

If the pirates are coming to finish him off he wants to take them with him. But the gun remains out of his reach. He grabs a piece of metal instead. Not going to be able to do much. But at least he's got something. Even if it is slicing up his hand. Give them a few scars to remember him by if nothing else.

Sunlight streams into the cabin. Mick tries to blink the light out of his eyes. For a second, he thinks he's hit his head too hard.

"Blondie?"

Girl steps forward and he can see the face.

Definitely not Sara. Got the same blond hair. But there's a look on this one's face that Mick's seen on Allen's face a dozen times.

Genuine concern for a stranger.

Girl puts her hands up, walks forward real slowly. Like coming towards a wounded animal you know might try to bite.

Girl just ripped a metal door off its hinges, doubt Mick's going to be able to do anything.

Even the suit reminds him of the Flash. Except for the cape.

"What's with heroes and capes?"

He hadn't meant to say that part out loud. Maybe he had hit his head harder than he thought.

Girl's still smiling. Though she's looking at him funny now.

"You're injured. And I want to help you. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm Supergirl. I'm…"

"Is there a Superboy?"

"What? Umm. No? I don't think so. There's Superman of course, although I don't think he ever went by the title Superboy. He didn't start helping people til he was well past the point of being considered a boy. I mean he was always helping people. But not, helping helping like he does now. I'm not really sure about that I would have to ask…"

Mick puts a hand on the cut on his forehead. Hissing with the contact.

Supergirl stops talking and apparently gets over whatever hesitation she has. Mick puts down the blade. It's stupid. He doesn't know this girl. She could be some psycho. Best psychos are the ones that smile all big, make you think you can trust them. Up until you're missing your kidneys and being buried in a shallow grave.

But she just seems so familiar.

Sentimentality.

Gonna get him killed one of these days.

"Hey. Don't worry. I'm going to get you some help. Everything's going to be ok."

Mick starts laughing.

He knows there isn't a Supergirl on his Earth. Knows he's been flung out by the universe. Ship's destroyed so he won't be able to get back to the Ridge. Won't be able to time the fluctuations or attempt to figure out the signature of his own reality.

He's stuck.

He's never going home.

Girl puts a hand on his shoulder.

Mick tries to stop laughing. The movement is causing his ribs a lot of pain. He finally manages to stop. Rubbing tears out of his eyes.

"I am so far from ok, Sunshine."

"If you are worried about the other ship, the men on it are being taken into custody. They tried to attack me when I went to help them."

"Pirates are real assholes."

That brought a smile to her concerned face.

She lifts the chair pinning him with one hand. He pulls himself out from under it and leans against the wall.

Takes a minute to just breathe.

He's never going home.

Just push that down and focus on the job. Figure out how bad off he really is, then find somewhere safe to lay low.

"What's the year?"

"Oh uh, 2016. Actually I think I'm supposed to be asking you those types of questions."

Glad she doesn't ask them. Pretty sure Mick would fail 'em all. Don't know what day it is, or who the president is. She's speaking English but that don't mean nothing. They could be on any country on earth. Hell the countries could be called something completely different.

Maybe this is an advanced version of earth. Maybe they will have the tech necessary to fix the ship.

Then he can be one of those people who spend eternity going mad, desperately trying to use Jurgen's Ridge to push them between realities so they can find their way home.

"We should really get you to a hospital."

"Had worse."

Damn. If he goes to a hospital and they run him through the system a different Mick Rory might come up. Some banker with a wife and six kids. Living on a farm in Kansas.

How was he going to explain that?

Sunshine was still looking concerned. Caught her glance towards his torn shirt. His scars were pretty visible.

The girl seemed pretty alright with space ships falling out of the sky. Plus she must have some kinds of powers. Maybe there was a particle accelerator explosion here too. Glasses' had said there was one on his Earth that caused the creation of metahumans. Might as well take a chance. He can always blame it on the head trauma later.

"You guys got a particle accelerator or STAR Labs here?"

Girl's smile gets real bright. Damn blinding almost.

"Oh! Are you from the same earth as B…as the Flash?"

Mick stares at her for a moment. Certain now that he has a severe brain injury. Must not be a girl in front of him at all. Must be talking to the damn air. Ain't no other explanation. Ain't no reason he could ever be that lucky.

"You know Barry Allen?"

"Oh my god! Yes, we met last year. He helped me fight a few of my villains and then he had to return to his earth. I mean I totally had to help him, he needed the extra speed and…are you a hero on your earth too?"

"No. Criminal."

"Oh. Um. What about…"

She waves towards the door. No doubt towards where the pirate ship is crashed.

"The pirates exist outside of the normal bounds of time. They don't claim any time or earth as their own."

"That sucks."

"They choose it."

"So…are you…outside the normal bounds of time?"

Mick wants to go home.

"No. Had a home. Just…too stupid to figure that out. Too late to go back now."

"You know what….I think we might be able to help with that. I mean, you know Barry and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't just tell his secret identity to everybody. Even if you do claim to be a criminal. I mean, technically you haven't done anything on this earth, so it's not like you can be arrested, unless they try to get you for littering. Cause this would be a hell of a fine. Plus all the debris from the other ship. But you didn't mean to do that! So I'm sure it won't be a problem for us to help you find your way back."

Maybe the universe didn't hate him after all.

"I'm Kara."

"Probably shouldn't tell me your real name. Shouldn't you wear a mask?"

Mick doesn't hear her response. He goes to move and a blinding pain shoots up his spine. He's pretty sure he passes out.

He's getting pretty sick of waking up in hospital beds.

Bunch of stern looking guards standing around him. Mick's a little surprised he isn't handcuffed.

"You're awake!" Kara comes bounding in. "You totally passed out, but I brought you back here and they said your injuries weren't too severe so…"

"Did you carry me here?"

"Yep! I'm super strong, hence the name…Supergirl, I mean. Not Kara. I don't think Kara means strength. I don't actually know what it means I should probably look that up at some point but I never really…"

"Mick."

"Right! Sorry, hello Mick. Does Mick stand for anything? I don't know why I asked that, I mean your name could have a different meaning on your earth than it does on ours. I mean, your ancestors could have come from a very different culture than the one…"

"You said you could get me home?"

Girl was going to talk herself hoarse. He eyed the guards that hadn't moved since he woke up. Still got their hands on their weapons. Best Mick got out of this place quick before they realized he wasn't exactly on the right side of the law most of the time.

"So when Barry was here he had this…thing on his chest. It was supposed to help him maintain his speed so that he could move through the barrier and travel to what he called Earth 2. But he came here. Earth 3! Well it's Earth 1 to us…should we really be sticking to the numbering system? Maybe each earth could pick it's own designation or come up with an altered name and… Anywho, he was able to find the right frequency and travel back home. So I was thinking, if we sent out a message in the frequency of your planet's vibrations, maybe it would be enough to get a message through and…"

Mick sort of remembered something about Ramon. The way his powers worked.

"You're sending coded vibrations through space?"

"Basically. We're aiming it towards the area you appeared from. I know it's a long shot and I don't want to get your hopes up…"

Mick moves to sit up, swinging his feet over the edge of the bed.

"It'll work."

"Oh! Really?"

"Yea."

Ramon would pick up on it. Hopefully, Hunter had gone back to STAR Labs and told them what happened. If they were already looking at the fluctuations then maybe they would be able to pick up where Mick disappeared to.

Course it would be dangerous. If it was even possible. Besides, Central was always on the brink of disaster. Could be years before they had enough time to even look for Mick. And there was no telling how long it would take them to…

An alarm started blaring.

Could be anything.

Dark haired lady runs in.

"Kara. There's…"

The wind blowing around tells Mick all he needs to know.  
"Barry! You got my message! Mick here was just saying that…"

Barry pulls off his mask. Got a big smile on his face.

"Don't hit me."

Mick doesn't even have a second to figure out what that means before Allen's got his arms wrapped around Mick.

Mick's never been a real big fan of hugging. Just seems like a way for someone to stab you in the back easier.

He don't complain about it though. Allen pulls away quickly too. Hug probably only lasted a second.

Barry steps back.

"We have been looking everywhere for you. Literally. Everywhere. There are billions of possible universes we had to search through. You know we actually ended up in a universe where the dominant species had evolved from lizards? Everyone had scales and spent hours each day sunning themselves on these huge…"

Mick knows he's smiling. Knows he should probably stop.

Kid's just babbling on and on.

Mick puts a hand on Allen's arm, squeezes it slightly. Just making sure he ain't hallucinating, that's all it is. Barry stops talking. Mick takes the opportunity to finally say something.

"How long has it been for you?"

"Almost four months."

"Lenny…is he…?"  
"He's here. Well, he's on the Waverider. Took a little bit of time to retrofit the thing to be able to pass into different universes but Cisco and Jax were working on it non-stop. And Snart was able to sort of….see through time? It's hard to explain but…" Allen turns away from Mick and looks at Kara. "…we would never have found you without Kara's signal."

"Oh please. I did like nothing. It has only been a day since his ship crashed and…"

Barry finally seems to realize that Mick is wrapped up in bandages. He steps back.

"Are you hurt? Did…?"

"I'm fine kid. Just want to go home."

Flash smiles again, then gives Sunshine a big hug. Two of them could be twins with smiles like that.

Len's waiting by the Waverider. Looking like he might freeze the guards standing between him and the military base. Lisa's there too. Figures. Doubt she was ever going to let her brother out of her sight again.

When Len sees Mick he gets this look in his eyes. One that tells Mick that Len remembers him this time.

Mostly annoyance. Just the barest hint of relief.

Mick's seen that look a thousand times.

Len goes to open his mouth. But Mick just pulls Len into a hug.

Len likes hugs less than Mick does. So he's surprised when Len puts his arms around him. Just a quick moment, then drops them when he thinks other people might see. Mick smiles.

"Welcome back partner."

"Likewise."

God he had missed that smug tone.

"Well. If it's going to be a group hug."

Lisa wraps her arms around Mick. Len's too quick, pulls away before Lisa can get them both. She sticks her tongue out at her brother.

"Spoilsport."

Mick wraps Lisa up in a bear hug, lifting her off her feet. Lisa was the exception to his no hugging rules. Always had been. She laughs lightly.

"Aw. Somebody missed us."

Mick wants to growl out a denial. Say it had only been a day or two for him. Maybe not even that since Hunter found him in that crappy hotel.

But he had thought he would never see these bastards again.

Even for a minute, that had been too long.

He puts her down without saying anything. From the looks on their faces, the Snarts figure it out. What he means by not saying nothing.

"Well, if we are quite done with this little excursion. I'd like to head back to our own Earth. Unless…"

"You're not stealing anything." The Flash looked a little disapproving.

Mick smirks.

"Ain't like we could be prosecuted or nothing."

Lisa chimes in.

"I mean, they wouldn't be able to follow us if we ran. I sincerely doubt there are interdimensional extradition laws. It would be the perfect getaway."

"They're not serious are they?" Sunshine actually looked a bit worried for a second. "You weren't kidding about being a criminal?"

Len puts a hand on Mick's arm. Gesture's so familiar, makes him forget what he was about to say.

"Well, I think that is our cue to go. Quite the quaint little planet you've got here."

"Thanks? I think?" She leans over and kinda whispers to the Flash. "I can't tell if he's insulting me or not."

"You never really know."

Mick leaves the Flash to say his goodbyes.

Hunter's on the deck. Looks pissed.

Then again, Mick's never known him not to look that way when Mick's around.

"Mr. Rory. You assured me that you would be able to navigate outside of the pull of the Ridge."

"Would've if the pirate ship hadn't harpooned mine. Couldn't break free."

"Yes, well. I have spent the last few months attempting to assure your comrades that I didn't not simply leave you to die…"

"Wouldn't be the first time Rip."

"Thank you for that Mr. Snart. I…Mr. Rory I know that you and I have not always seen eye to eye, but I do hope that you realize whatever our past misgivings I…"

Mick wasn't in the mood for this. Wasn't in the mood to listen to people apologize and make nice.

"Weren't we going to get drunk?"

Rip looks startled for a second. Lisa swoops in and loops an arm around the temporarily distracted Captain.

"Come on Hunter. I'll show you where Len and I hid all your good alcohol."

Lisa tugs Hunter out of the room. Leaving just Len and Mick on the bridge. Mick runs an idle hand over the center console.

"So, I hear you've become quite the hero in my absence."

Mick raises an eyebrow at that.

"Don't know where you heard that."

"Where didn't I hear it? If it wasn't Palmer talking about you saving the city from blowing up, it was Stein or the Flash mentioning how helpful you had been. It was quite the fight to keep all of them off the ship during this little rescue. Couldn't have every hero from Central City missing at the same time."

Mick narrowed his eyes. He wasn't sure where this conversation was going. Him and Len hadn't been on equal footing in awhile. Mick being Chronos had thrown them way off. Wasn't sure what Lenny being a part of the time stream was going to add to the mix.

"What are you getting at?"

"I started wondering what it was that would have made you go off with Hunter again. Seeing how little you two like each other most of the time."

"Wasn't you."

"Hm."

Mick figures that's what Len's getting at. Trying to apologize for calling him Chronos when he first woke up.

"Was just…made sense for me to leave. Was getting…"

Wish he could explain himself better. Len just leans up against the console. Half sitting on it. Man's basically a cat.

Mick rubs a hand over his face.

"Can't be sure."

Len raises an eyebrow. Tilts his head. Waiting for Mick to continue.

"Can't be sure the Time Masters didn't leave nothing behind. That…" Mick waves a hand vaguely around his head. Len gets what he means.

Always does.

"That Chronos couldn't come back."

"Figured with you back, they'd have someone to watch out for 'em. Keep those idiots from killing themselves."

Not the only reason he left. Only one of the hundred reasons it was a bad idea for him to stick around Central. Mick couldn't stay in one place too long.

Never ended well for anybody.

Especially people he considers family.

"Gideon. Is there a way to scan Mick's brain to see our old friends the Time Masters left any nasty surprises behind?"

"Unfortunately no. I do not have access to the exact protocols which were used during Mr. Rory's induction process. And there is no way of knowing if Commander Declan had augmented any of the…"

"Thank you Gideon. Well, worth a shot."

"Couldn't ever be sure. Ain't worth the risk Snart."

"I'm the one that calculates the risks before a job."

"Snart…"

"Do you remember Vegas?"

"I remember that sunburn you got. Complained non-stop for a month."

"Do you remember why we didn't hit a casino while we were there?"

"Cause hitting a casino in Vegas in the 90s would have been suicide. Mob still owned that whole town."

"And what did we do instead?"

"The job we were hired to do. Scout some hotel for a couple days. Keep an eye on some assholes."

"And."

"And what?"

Mick didn't remember anything else about that job. Just getting it done and leaving town. Didn't even make that much money. Remember that Len had been pissed at him about something for awhile after that. Never really knew what. Mick just looks at Len. Len looks a little upset.

"You don't remember?"

"Don't remember a lot of stuff."

Len sighs dramatically at that. Like Mick had forgotten something that happened twenty years ago just to annoy him.

"After we finished the job, the man who hired us offered us another one. All we had to do was go to the casino down the road and scan the security systems. Figure out when the guards changed shifts. Even offered to let you start the fire that would act as a diversion."

"Stupid ass plan."

"Yes. I didn't see that at the time though. I was arrogant…"

Mick interrupted with a snort.

"Was."

Len just plowed on.

"I thought we should take the job. It was almost triple what we had just made and I knew it was simple."

"Why didn't we?"

"You said it was an idiotic plan. And that we should get out."

"And you listened to me? Figures. The one time you actually do and I don't even remember it."

"That's because I didn't listen to you. I told you that you were right. That we would leave in the morning. The moment you went to your room, I snuck back down to the casino."

"You bragging about a job you pulled without me now?"

"No. I…didn't get the money. A security guard spotted me watching too closely. I had to make a break for it. Then the man who hired me got word that I had been made. Wanted to send some goons after me. I spent the entire night running around Vegas trying to avoid getting beaten or killed."

"Never told me that."

"Of course not. My…arrogance led me to thinking I always knew what was best. I ignored what you said. I almost didn't make it to the bus stop the next day."

"Thought you were pissed at me for making you miss out on a job."

"No."

"Huh."

Was an odd story to tell. Lenny never admitted to his mistakes. Not unless there was a gun to his head. Even then that might not be enough.

Story wasn't an apology though. Wasn't him saying he was sorry for thinking Mick was still Chronos.

Just telling him that maybe…maybe he don't know everything. Don't always know what he should do.

So maybe it's alright if Mick don't either. Ain't gotta figure it all out now. And if things do go to shit…

Better that he have someone watching his back, then running all over on his own.

Mick smiles a little.

Len smirks.

"Ready to go home partner?"

Mick takes a deep breath. Stands up straight, like his training taught him to, and runs a hand over the console. He can see all the changes that have been made. Can see Jax and Ramon's hands all over the added tech. Going to have to ask them how they compensated for the different vibrations of universes they hadn't been to.

He leans against the console beside his partner. Puts his hand on the heat gun at his hip.

It's a motion he makes without really thinking about it.

Muscle memory.

That never fades.

"Yea buddy, let's go home."

* * *

A/N: This was supposed to be a quick one shot I was writing to help me get past some writers block I was having on another story. And it just got out of control. I've only seen the crossover episode of Supergirl, don't know how she ended up here. Thanks for reading.


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